Journal Article Uncertainty and the Cobweb Get access F. H. Hahn F. H. Hahn Birmingham Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Review of Economic Studies, Volume 23, Issue 1, 1955, Pages 65–75, https://doi.org/10.2307/2296153 Published: 01 April 1955
This article focuses on the need for college courses in internal auditing. The need for college courses in internal auditing is a much debated subject. While college educators hesitate to add special courses to an already crowded curriculum, those interested in the field of internal auditing see the need for a higher grade of training for the internal auditor than is currently available. This need stems, primarily, from the broader responsibilities assigned to the internal auditor, and the increasing range of services he is required to render. Each company making use of internal auditing created this function in accordance with its own concepts and particular needs. In those cases where all operations were established at one location, were controlled by one accounting system, and were subject to close management supervision, the clerical type of internal auditing generally prevailed. While normal management problems have been constantly increasing over the years, World War II brought a pyramid of new problems.
The article focuses on the requirement of accountants within the Atomic Energy Commission. The commission's Junior Management Development Program employs ten persons each year to help provide a flow of trained people. One of the qualifying fields is business administration. These people are needed because atomic energy just in the past few years has become big business, and one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. The training program is aimed at the graduates to be sound on technical points, such as inventory pricing, depreciation, testing of records for audit purposes, bank reconciliation, and all the others. The accountant, the auditor, the budget analyst, must not only have sound ideas and thoughts, but he must be able to present these thoughts so that they are understood, are convincing, and secure a desired response. The training and examination methodology of the program is discussed in the article. The author suggests a need for improvement in both written and oral presentations.